


Dexios

by pr_squared



Category: Gor Chronicles - John Norman
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:48:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pr_squared/pseuds/pr_squared
Summary: Dexios grows up on the Annaea estate.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 6





	1. Youth

**Author's Note:**

> So much femdom details the mighty efforts of the domme to invent entertaining trials and torments for her sub, something like a cowboy tale - all about the cow.  
> His desires absorb all her energy and intelligence - topping from the bottom.   
> I'm trying to something different.  
> An old attempt to replicate the melancholy eroticism of the "Songs of Bilitis"

A few exceptional events intruded on Dexios' waking thoughts and vividly populated his dreams. He remembered his mother’s love and the day the slavers tore from her arms. He remembered the day Galla had noticed that he had not yet been branded and set Drusa promptly to remedy the deficiency. He remembered the beauty of a perfect rose and the exquisite loveliness of his Lady Lucia Annaea Lepida.

He had grown up on the Annaea's country estate, naked and nameless among a gang of youths until one day, the old gardener Itheus had somehow chosen him to serve as his apprentice. Itheus tended the estate's superb gardens. Dexios worked diligently beside the enslaved expert. He watched Itheus's strong hands coax fragrant blossoms from piles of manure and delicate orchids from rotting tree bark. He learned the secret alchemy of sun, soil, and water and the care of roots and branches.

One day, Graccha – whom he would later call Lady Graccha – called him from his work. He was sixteen years old and she, no older than fourteen. In truth, Graccha, Lady Lepida's long time companion and second, was not of the nobility, but compared to a lowly kajirus any free woman was exalted. Dexios, sixteen years of age, looked to Itheus and Itheus shrugged his shoulders. Itheus, an adult and a master of his craft, could not deny Graccha though she was no older than fourteen

Polla Annaea Lepida, fully fourteen years old and crossing the threshold into womanhood, ran laughing, her radiant face unveiled and exposed. Her golden hair shone in the summer sunlight. The deep blue of her eyes beggared the blue sky. A brief tunic covered her lithe coltish form and bared her long slender legs. By the ear, she dragged a naked kitchen youth, Telamon, into her game.

"You and you," she pointed to Telamon and Dexios, "are evil tarn riders who have captured me. You wish to enslave me but my brave Graccha comes to my rescue." Telamon was about the same age as Dexios. Both had come into manhood. Neither Lepida nor Graccha were discomfited by their nudity for the youths were only kajiri and slaves were always naked unless it pleased their owners to cover their bodies for some reason or other.

Dexios had allowed his mind to wander but never had he imagined himself a warrior or a tarn rider. He was at best gardener. He could not image a kajira – naked and bound at his feet. Telamon was equally at a loss for words.

Lepida looked at the clueless youths in frustration. "Would I not make a lovely kajira? Would you not like to awaken my slave heat?" `Slave heat' was something she had read about in the privacy of her room and the words just sounded very naughty and exciting. Still she elicited no response from the befuddled kajiri. "Perhaps, you two warriors would rather bugger each other." Now that awkward act was something she had observed.

Telmon looked at Dexios and Dexios looked at Telamon. Finally, Dexios rose boldly to the challenge and placed his hands on his hips. He looked boldly at Lepida -looked directly and not with the lowered eyes expected of kajirus. "You are my slave!" he said and in that moment, he was fully captured by her loveliness.

"Get away from her, swine," Graccha shouted, wielding a pole like a sword. Dexios and Telemon tried to fend off her blows but knew better than to attempt to strike back at her. She was quick and strong her size. Lepida quickly grabbed a branch and joined the affray. Soon both youths were bruised and bleeding on the ground.

Lepida gestured to Graccha to stop. "I offer you the Warrior's Choice. Would you be slave or die free?" she offered Telamon.

Telamon stared at the ground and spit blood. "Die," he said.

Graccha jabbed his belly with her pole. He bent double at the waist. A roundhouse kick dropped him moaning to the ground,

“You’re dead!” Graccha declared.

Lepida turned to Dexios. Her blue eyes glowed with enthusiasm. Excitement animated her entire form. 

“I would be your slave." He looked at Lepida again -looked directly and not with the lowered eyes expected of kajirus. She radiated beauty. like the Sun, the bright Daughter of the brilliant Dawn.

“A slave may die too, should he fail to please his owner,” Graccha cautioned.

In her excitement, she overlooked his startling boldness.


	2. The Garden

Dexios tended the roses early one summer morning. A light rain had left the air soft and the ground damp. Dexios worked and inhaled the fecund scent of life and growth as welcome change from the stuffy confines of the slave kennel. He loved the freedom of the garden and despised his crowded pen, where he had only his sleeping mat and a tin bowl to call his own. He marveled that a mat so uncomfortably thin could still be so uncomfortably lumpy.

Dexios worked diligently. He heard laughter and voices and stopped for minute. He looked about and seeing nothing returned to his labors. He heard them again and turned to see two young women, veiled but with hair uncovered, one fair and one dark. A kitchen youth, Phormion, followed carrying a jumble of picnic baskets and blankets. Phormion was a strongly built youth used to the most strenuous tasks in the household. The women's casual country dress was less bulky and less concealing than more formal city robes.

"Just inhale the fragrance," sighed the woman with dark hair.

"A perfect flower – another – and another," added the golden haired other. "Ouch – damn thorns!" Dexios' fingers bore many reminders of the danger of the thorns.

"Be more careful, my Lady," warned the dark haired one. "I am held responsible for your safety. Eighteen year-old Dexios looked up from his roses to see Lady Lepida. Although he had only seen her once and four years had passed, Dexios knew her at once.

"This is a good place, Graccha," she said. "I love roses. Just inhale their fragrance."

The second darker woman directed Phormion to put down his burdens and spread out the blankets and open the baskets.

Lepida looked for a comfortable place to sit but distrusted wet ground. She turned to see Dexios looking at them. "Slave," she commanded, "come here. You're not doing anything too useful anyway."

Dexios was startled and looked away – pretending that he had been attending to his work.

"Slave, here," Lepida reiterated. She was accustomed to more prompt obedience.

Dexios stood and trotted over the few dozen yards. He lowered his head in submission. Lepida had changed over the four years and so had he, coming fully into manhood.

Lepida pointed to the ground and said, "Sulla."

"Uncertain of her meaning, Dexios did nothing. He worked on the grounds and knew little of life in the household. Phormion looked at him in surprised disbelief.

"I think he's just stupid or deaf," Graccha grinned. “Perhaps both.” She bore a well-worn scabbard at her belt. Her sword appeared to be more than an ornament. She pointed to Phormion. "Sulla."

Phormion knew the instruction. He promptly lowered himself to the ground, and laid supine, arms at his side.

"See," Graccha said. "Now you." She looked at Dexios.

Lepida pointed and Dexios lowered himself to the wet ground. Lepida sat on his chest while Graccha set up a contraption to boil water and brew black wine. She handed Lepida a piece of fruit, took one for herself, and then settled back on Phormion's broad chest. Her scabbard made sitting somewhat complicated. Dexios saw the thick calluses on the side of her right hand.

Lepida moved her veil to the side and took a bite. "This is great. I really love the country," she sighed as she watched the water heat. Despite the exciting swirl of lunches, teas, dinners and evening parties, parade of merchants who invaded her town house to tempt her with their wares, and her extensive circles of friends, sixteen year old Lepida loved the untrammeled freedom of the country, in the summer, at least. She found the unrelenting formality and crowded schedule of city life stifling. With wealth and noble birth came restrictions and responsibilities.

Dexios felt the real weight of Lepida's slender form on his chest and the press of her tunic's fabric against his bare skin. He inhaled her perfume and relished her closeness. Her touch thrilled him.

"Graccha, sometimes I even feel a twinge of envy for the sweating bearers who carried me from Cydaris," she confessed. Others attend to their basic needs and they need only fear their overseers' whips." The journey from Cydaris had been long. For the first five nights, they had stayed at strategically placed inns. On the sixth night, they had stayed overnight at the Tutilla estate. On the seventh night, they camped out. "Their duties are straightforward." She tossed away the three quarters eaten core and wiped her hand on Dexios' bare belly, her finger tips reaching beyond his belly button.

Dexios thrilled to her touch. His sex stirred unnoticed in his groin while the women talked.

"Sometimes, I even envy even you," Lepida smiled and looked at her friend. Graccha seemed to enjoy the benefits of freedom with many fewer of its onerous burdens. She, on the other hand, had to wear the heavy robes of concealment and full five veils. She learned bookkeeping and the management her family's far-flung enterprises. In the City, she lived in fear of choosing ill-favored couture, using the wrong implement at dinner, or uttering an unfortuitously turned phrase in conversation that might earn her mother's disappointment and the whispered scorn of her noble friends.

Graccha poured the steaming beverage into two fine cups, gave one to Lepida and kept one for herself. She settled back on Phormion's chest and prepared to drink the fragrant black wine. She struggled to negotiate her veils and then discarded them totally in utter frustration. Finally, she drank deeply, relishing her freedom.

Lepida watched her friend, first in good-humored sympathy, then in worry, and finally in envy. Boldly, she too discarded her veils. Here on her family's estate, who might violate her privacy? She lifted her head and felt the morning sun on her face. She inhaled the fresh country air.

Dexios saw her face unveiled. He was a slave and well beneath notice. He studied her intently and committed every detail to memory.

Old Galla, chatelaine of the estate, loved to wander in Itheus' rose gardens also. She saw the girls at their picnic and looked once more to confirm her sudden notion that Graccha had dared to discard her veils. She had never thought well of the common-born girl at all. "Graccha, what are you doing? Have you no shame?" she asked.

Graccha gestured obscenely. She made no move to retrieve her veil.

Galla, her angry eyes flashing above her veils and her gray hair a storm cloud around her head, made an irritated noise and placed her hands on her hips. "I never thought much of you, girl."

Graccha answered sharply, "Galla, you old fart, I never think about you much at all.

Only then Galla saw Lepida. She too had discarded her veils. Horror replaced anger. Instantly, Galla quickly forgot about Graccha. "Lady," she moaned. "What ever got into you, child! What shall I tell your Lady mother? She will be distraught beyond consolation."

Lepida stood and looked at the older woman. "You may tell her that I would be treated as an adult and that Graccha is my dear friend."

"If you would act as adult you would be treated as an adult. If you insist on playing the spoiled child, you leave me little choice."

"That is the crux of it – adults have choice," Lepida retorted as she retrieved her veil. Her beautiful morning was now thoroughly ruined. Near tears, Lepida donned her veil and trudged back toward her rooms. Graccha accompanied her, her face still defiantly bare.

Galla charged Phormion to pack up the picnic and he set about his task. She gestured to Dexios to stand before her. "You've grown," she offered, sizing up the youth before she sent him back to his gardening.

Dexios stood with head bowed and said nothing. Grass, twigs, and leaves stuck to his bare back, buttocks, and legs. No one had asked him a direct question or given him permission to speak. That much he knew of social convention.

"Your collar becomes you." Galla stroked the brand on Dexios left thigh. "Your brand has healed beautifully."

Dexios thought that she too, perhaps, remembered the day she had ordered it placed.

Galla returned to the manor house and Dexios returned to his labors. Telamon brought him fruit, cheese, bread, and water for lunch. Dexios ate but saved some fruit and water for later in the day. He worked until dusk and strolled back to the kennel – enjoying his last minutes of liberty.

He and Telamon were sitting on the floor eating when Drusa, the kennel mistress, lifted his chin with her crop.

"You, Dexios, are wanted in the big house. Do your messy business, if you must, bathe, and find Aithra. Hurry – lest she who calls for you finds another way to amuse herself."

All eyes were upon Dexios as he stood and left the mess to attend to his new duty. Never before had he been called to the manor house. He prepared himself as best as he was able and walked the several hundred yards in the fading twilight.

Aithra, Galla’s assistant, met him at the kitchen door and brought him inside. She inspected him thoroughly. Only the stubborn dirt under his fingernails gave her pause and that was routed by the vigorous application of her stiff brush. She led him down a long, dimly lit corridor and bade him kneel by an ornate door and wait until he was summoned.

Dexios heard voices inside. He heard music and laughter. He heard Lepida and Graccha’s voices. He listened and he allowed his mind to wander pleasantly. Time passed and twilight turned to night. Still, he waited unnoticed.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and Lepida stepped into the passageway. Graccha followed. Only Graccha turned to flash him a smile as she passed. Still Dexios knelt and waited. His muscles grew stiff and painful.

Finally, Galla walked by and beckoned for Dexios to follow. Naked, he padded after her through the quiet corridors. Candlelight played on her silvery gray hair. She stopped and opened a plain but sturdy door.

"Help me with my gown and sandals."

Stiff fingered and clumsy, Dexios fumbled with the clasp on her gown and earned a harsh stare. Galla, in slip and small clothes, collapsed into a ready chair with a tired sigh. Dexios searched anxiously for the place to hang her dress. Successful eventually, Dexios turned and Galla shook her right foot at him. This he understood and promptly removed her sandal. Somehow knowing what was needed, he massaged her tired foot in his large strong hands, first one foot than the other. His hard work earned a sigh of pleasure. He kneaded her left foot strongly. Galla removed her outer veils, leaving only the Last. Her experienced right foot worked mischief in his groin.

His body responded to her ministrations. She trapped his head between her thighs and showed him other ways in which he might give her pleasure.


	3. Roses

Dexios gathered a large bouquet of his very finest roses and followed Phaia into the manor house. There, he knelt as directed and awaited further instructions. Dexios heard music and voices from within the chamber. The fragrance of his roses filled the air. While curiosity is not a virtue for a kajirus, patience does suit him extremely well.

After a time, Helike, Lepida's body servant, opened the door. Her small youthful body, undoubtedly that of a woman, was bare except for a loincloth but she was armored in her lady's favor. She smiled to see the lovely blossoms and beckoned him enter. "The Lady will be well pleased. And fortunately, your slave kennel stink has not tainted the aroma – too much." Her smile softened her taunt.

Dexios followed her. He had bathed thoroughly before being admitted to the house and passed Galla's careful inspection. The room was softly lit by candles. The warm, moist air was redolent with perfumed bath oils. He saw dark-haired Graccha, lounging bare –faced and bare-legged in a brief tunic on a chaise. Lepida sat back in her bath and rested her trim arms resting on the sides of the sunken pool. "Roses! Let me see," she said eagerly as she turned toward Dexios.

Dexios counted his age at twenty-six. By his calculation, Lepida was twenty-four and he hadn't seen her for 8 years. Her voice stirred his memories and rekindled his passion. Her face was bare also and his eyes drank in her features. He replaced his faded memories with an even more exquisite reality, like a thirsty man whose lips taste water after finally reaching an oasis in an endless arid desert. She was as naked as he. He no longer need imagine her rounded breasts hidden beneath her tunic. He could see them in their naked glory.

Lepida turned and looked in his direction. Dexios dropped quickly to his knees. Though both were unclothed, none might doubt who commanded and who obeyed.

Graccha rose from her couch and walked over to examine the roses more closely. Dexios had eyes only for his lady.

"The roses are lovely," Graccha said, resting a sword-callused hand fondly on Dexios bare shoulder. Her bare thigh rubbed against his flank but nothing distracted him from the object of his attention.

"I love roses," Lepdia said, rising like a gleaming goddess from the steaming water. The candle light played over her bare body.

Her beauty took his breath away as she walked toward him, dripping water on the tiled floor. Free women prized their modesty but standing naked before a slave was of no account. Her eyes were a fierce blue that made the proud summer sky look pale. Her coloring was light and complexion flawless. The hair that crowned her sex was as golden blond as the flaxen hair on her head. Helike quickly wrapped her in a thick warmed towel.

"Our boy is quite a gardener," Lepida said, studying the roses. She was so close that Dexios could feel her body's warmth. She was close enough to touch, if he dared move. "We need to bring him with us the townhouse in Cydaris. I would have these roses there."

Graccha laughed at here own wit. "Our boy here is quite excellent at tending his roses. Perhaps you might make use of him to trim your bush."

Lepida groaned at Graccha's poor attempt at humor. She took the roses and instructed Helike to put them in water, She turned away and at once, Dexios was totally ignored.

Once more Lepida’s beauty seized Dexios' breath. 

"Back to the kennel with you!" Helike kicked him lightly to recall him from his trance. "Come with me," she said. "Our Lady is beautiful." One often hears pity voiced for the kajirus who too blatantly reveals his lust for his mistress. More perilous still, is a betrayal of any lack of desire.

Dexios walked beside Helike back to the kennel. He touched his thigh, wet from the perfumed water that had dripped from Lepida's naked body onto his and sniffed her scent on his hand. He envied the water its intimate nearness to her body.

Drusa greeted them. "Was the boy adequate?" she asked. She took great pride in her kennel and demanded the best from her charges.

"Our Lady was very well pleased," Helike answered with a grin. "She will take him with her to the city. She wishes roses such as yours in her gardens there."

"We are always pleased to serve. Old Itheus will need a new apprentice."

"In the city, all of our boys are circumcised and ringed. Your Dexios will be something of a novelty for a time. The Lady also wishes to reward the boy." Helike called him boy even though she was sixteen years old to his twenty-four years. She examined Dexios unabashedly and suddenly he felt very naked although Helike wore only a brief loincloth with her breasts bare.

"He may find relief tonight."

Dexios did not believe what he heard. Opportunities for sexual relief were rare in the kennel. In the female, sexual release tends to increase desire. In the male, on the other hand, release is to often the end of desire and orgasm brings only laziness and loss of focus. Dexios glanced briefly up at Drusa and Helike. A kajirus does not stare openly at his betters.

"Do it now, though. Lady Graccha wishes a detailed report.”

Dexios stood, hands on head, before a tall mirror. 

Helike stood behind him, almost hidden by his large body. Her slender arm snaked around his waist. Her hand stroked the inside of his thigh and cupped his balls. 

Dexios closed his eyes and imagined Lady Lepida rising naked from her bath. He felt Helike’s bare breasts press against his bare back. He trembled when she took his sex in her hand. 

Amused, Drusa looked on and offered clever comments. Helike smiled at her easy triumph.

He thought he felt her lips on his shoulder.


	4. The Adventure

An adventure, she had pleaded with her mother. An adventure. No sedan chair and no bearers. She would travel to the city with Graccha, Helike, and a couple of boys. She would find her sword and wear it, she promised. 

The expedition set out. Lady Lepdia wore a tunic and trousers with but a single veil. She was proud of her mid-calf leather boots. Graccha was bare-faced and carried her sword and crossbow. Helike had her dagger and her slave goad. Dexios had packed his carefully wrapped cuttings. The boys, Dexios and Philamon, were naked except for their collars and large sun hats. Their wrists were secured to chains that circled their waists. They were heavily burdened with back and front packs. 

The travel was arduous and the summer days hot and long. Lepida and Graccha led. The boys followed. Heavily burdened by their large backpacks and frontpacks, they posed no threat to run. Helike followed, slave goad in hand. Several times each morning and afternoon, the boys were brought to their knees and watered by Helike or Graccha. They were fed twice a day by hand. They only watched while the women enjoyed their lunch.

As evening passed into night; the boys were hobbled and freed from their burdens. They waited while the women ate. Patience is a virtue for a kajirus. Graccha and Helike teased but fed them full helpings of the slave gruel and the leavings of the women’s dinner. Their toil had been arduous. The boys were hooded for the night.

Dexios lay in darkness and heard the crackling fire. He listened to the women’s chatter for a while. He enjoyed the sound of their voices but he was tired. Their words meant little to him and their references less. He was a gardener and he grew roses. Sleep came easily.

The second day passed largely like the first. They forded many streams. The thick trees offered shade. The rich forest air was fecund with life and reminded Dexios of his beloved garden. 

The boys were hobbled while the women frolicked naked in the clear waters of an inviting stream. 

Helike laughed and pointed. She had seen the boys staring at them. She screamed with mock outrage. 

The women clambered up the bank and approached them at a walk – blond Lepida and dark Graccha. Helike retrieved her goad. 

Dexios knelt and Lepida naked stood before him. She held his head and pulled at his ears. He saw her graceful neck and shoulders, her pert breasts with their pink areole, the slight roundness of tummy, and the female curve of her hips. He saw the secret place between her trim thighs and the golden bush that crowned her sex. She stood so close that he could see the goosebumps on her fair skin. He inhaled her subtle fragrance. 

“Do you like what you see?” she teased and prodded his sex with her foot. 

Graccha watched, amused. “See! He loves you.” she taunted, seeing his body’s reaction. 

Lepida looked down and grinned. “Do you really love me or do you just want to fuck me?”

The boys were loaded with their heavy burdens and walked till dark. Under the hot summer sun, sweat dripped from their naked bodies. Lepida and Graccha led. The boys followed and Helike trailed slave goad in hand. All were eager for rest.

The boys knelt. Graccha and Helike fed them as usual. 

“Bright Daughter of the brilliant Dawn! The boys are certainly fragrant.” She wrinkled her nose and recoiled at their stink.

Helike stood hand on hips and knew that she would be called upon the remedy the problem.


	5. Rain

The party was on the trail soon after dawn. Graccha and Lepida led. The boys followed, burdened with their heavy packs. Helike trailed with her goad. Dexios, sweating profusely, was glad for his broad-billed hat in the hot summer sun. Sudden showers caught them in the open with no obvious shelter. The wind blew wet and cold. 

Dark hair plastered to the sides of her head, Graccha grinned at her. Water streamed down her face. “Galla said we should have had an entourage more in keeping with your station than poor me, helpless little Helike and the two heavily burdened kajiri.

“At least, we needn’t fear brigands with the bad weather, Graccha. You will have to enjoy your warlike fantasies in your dreams.”

“Imagine sleeping on a night like this?” Lightening flashed and thunder boomed.

Helpless little Helike had somehow found an outcropping of rock that promised some shelter. She led Dexios and Philemon by the leads attached to their sturdy nose rings but they needed no encouragement to escape the downpour. She called to Lady Lepida and Graccha. 

Graccha’s heartfelt chagrin at Helike’s practical success could not diminish her pleasure to escape the rain. She searched in vain for any kindling dry enough to start a fire.

She relieved the boys of their heavy backpacks and front packs. Dexios had his carefully wrapped cuttings. One by one, she took them into the woods to attend to their necessary business. Far from civilization, the kajiri were hobbled, cuffed, and hooded for the night. She arranged their large bodies, lying on their sides and facing out as a windbreak. Lepida and Graccha surrendered their dignity and snuggled up close to their kajiri, their wet clothes against the males’ wet bare skins. With now expected resourcefulness, Helike found a canvas to cover them all. 

Staring into the dark canvas, sleep came slowly to Dexios. He listened to rain splattering on the canvas and the others’ breathing. He tried to assign the sounds to Lady Lepida, Graccha, and Helike. Philemon’s rumble was unmistakable. Dexios inhaled the moist air, laden with the odor of wet fabric and a subtle hint of feminine perfume. He felt warm breath on his back, then shuddered from the icy touch of frigid hands on his bare skin – small feminine hands.

He heard female laughter, then the hands moved over his body and desperately seeking warmth. They finally nestled between his brawny thighs. Concerns for propriety had been discarded.

Dexios took a certain pleasure from the almost intimate closeness of the one behind him. He wondered whether she might be Graccha or Lady Lepida. Under the canvas, darkness was total. He hoped she might be his Lady and soon his hope was reborn as a dream as his exhausted form found sleep and rest.

At dawn, Helike pulled back the soaked canvas. A fierce sun shone in a cloudless sky in the morning and things quickly returned to the way that they had been. Dexios awoke with a rampant erection and a vivid recollection of female hands stroking his genitals and female lips gently kissing his back. He could not say whether it was reality or dream.

Graccha finally started a fire and Helike warmed some gruel. The boys knelt and Helike fed them. Graccha and Lady Lepida sat by the fire and ate.

Lady Lepida and Graccha would need an inn and its hot bath facilities to restore themselves. Like Philemon and himself, Helike looked little the worse for wear. She shook her short hair dry. Dexios paid little attention to his surroundings or his circumstances. His mind dwelled on the happenings of the last night – real or imagined.

Helike helped the boys with their packs. Much ground would be covered today. “Sleep well, Dexios?” she asked cheerfully.

Deep in thought, Dexios did not hear her.

She lifted the heavy pack to Dexios back. “Dexios, what this?” she continued, her glee even greater. She poked his bare back. “Is it a hickey?”

The next day, the stream was swollen. The water ran quickly and deep at the ford. 

Lady Lepida surveyed the scene, hands on hips. “I wish not to get wet,” she pronounced, “My poor boots.” The air was chill. 

Helike thought for a moment. She took Dexios to his knees and clambered up on his broad back. She brought him to his feet and guided him to the stream’s edge. She led Philemon by the lead attached to his nose ring.

“Let’s cross! You can do it.” She urged Dexios.

Dexios saw the rapidly running water and balked. 

Helike jabbed him with the slave goad - once

Philemon held back but Helike yanked hard on the lead attached to his nose ring and he stumbled forward. 

Dexios took one slow careful step forward and then another. The frigid water rose to his knees and chilled his male paraphernalia. His bare feet sought purchase on the slippery stream bed. He trudged carefully on. The water rose to his navel, then to his mid-chest, then receded. 

With Helike on his broad back, he climbed up the bank.

Helike relieved the two boys of their packs. Leading Philemon, she rode Dexios back over the treacherous stream. Without their heavy burdens, the crossing was easier. She brought the boys to their knees. “Lady, take Dexios. He’s taller.”

Lepida had taken off her treasured boots and hung them around her neck. She looked at Dexios uncertainly. “I’m not certain this is a good idea!” 

“Any better ideas, Lepida?” Graccha laughed. 

Lepida sat on Dexios shoulders. Her legs draped over his chest and she held on to his ears desperately. 

“Up, Dexios! Just think about the whipping you’ll get if my Lady gets wet.” Graccha tried to remember if she had packed her whip. Perhaps his beating would have to wait until they reached Cydaris. Certainly, Lady Atia would lend her a whip. 

Dexios stood. Lady Lepida’s weight was nothing to him compared to the usual weight of his packs. He felt the warmth of her body through the fine cloth of her trousers on his bare skin. The secret place between her thighs pressed against the base of his neck. She held his ears desperately. Carefully, Dexios crossed the stream. He inhaled her scent and imagined pressing his head back against her soft breasts. Helike rode Philemon across. They crossed safely, though Philemon slipped and almost foundered. Lepida dismounted safely. 

Once again, they crossed the stream. Graccha climbed up on Dexios back and Helike rode Philemon again. All were safely on the far bank, though the boys had made five crossings.

Dexios was grateful for a rest and the warm summer sun. Helike loaded him with his packs and the five continued their journey.


	6. Cydaris

Cydaris grew closer. His burdens were heavy but nothing could keep him from peering this way and that and gawking at the novel surroundings. He had never seen so many people and buildings in one place and they had yet to pass through the outer suburbs of Cydaris.

In the city, he saw four story buildings, crowded one beside the other, with two floors of wood above two floors of stone. Balconies thrust out and almost touched in the middle if the streets. Hawkers noisily sold their wares. He saw a coffle of slaves sweating under heavy burdens that dwarfed their naked bodies, which were well- marked by the whips of their overseers. Gowned and veiled townswomen went about their business. Attended by sleek naked boys, Great Ladies sat behind the curtains of their ornate sedan chairs borne by four or even eight brawny bearers. Dexios glimpsed a knacker’s cart piled high with the broken bodies of dead slaves. Flies buzzed around them and a foul order wafted from the heap. Helike tugged on his lead and pulled him forward, deeper into the city.

Dexios walked and saw a rare clothed male, a visiting sea captain, negotiating with a Free Woman, obviously of the merchant guild, and dressed most modestly in her robes of concealment. Behind her knelt a naked kajirus or male slave. His body and loins were smoothly shaven. His thick black hair reached down to his buttocks in a long braid, tied by a red ribbon. His lips and nipples were painted a brilliant red. His gold collar, earrings, and nipple rings flaunted the substantial wealth and good taste of his mistress. His heavy cock was baldly exposed. Its foreskin had been removed; its naked head painted red to match his lips and nipples and pierced with a gold ring. That ring was linked to a second ring that pierced his navel and lifted his cock to expose his fat, shaven ball sac beneath. His head was bent and he stared down passively with no inclination to explore his surroundings.

The party reached the townhouse. Lady Lepida, Graccha, and Helike disappeared. Dexios and Philemon were turned over to Tullia, the kennel overseer, and her assistant, Ayden. Houseboys removed their burdens and Dexios and Philemon stood for inspection.

Dexios was relieved when he was allowed to see to his cuttings and inspect the grounds. Compared to his confusing impressions of the city, he knew something about his roses and gardens. In familiarity, he found comfort. Breasts bared and dressed in a brief kilt, Aydan walked him to the gardens. The grounds were well tended but unexceptional. Dexios found Ayden’s presence unsettling. Her casual nearness stirred him. She seemed to have no sense of her effect on him or hid her awareness well. With difficulty, he attended to the required task and studied light and shadow and assessed the varied quality of the soils. Dexios heard a scream and looked to Ayden. She gestured for him to go on with his work. He took a handful of dirt as assessed it moisture and savored its taste. He planned his garden carefully. Itheus had taught him well. 

Ayden showed him where he might wash himself and watched him attend to his business – brooking him no privacy.

“We have to get you presentable for the household,” she grinned as she opened a heavy door and led him into a small chamber. “Tullia has high standards for her kennel. Cassandra, the chief domestic, is unyielding and Berenice, her second, is even worse.” Ayden rolled her eyes. Philemon had been seen to already.

Dexios did not grasp the import of her words but he did not resist when Ayden bent him over the sturdy table. She fastened a thick belt over his middle and tied his wrists behind his back. Given his size and strength, Dexios might a tossed the smaller woman aside with little effort, but the possibility of such open rebellion did not occur to the kajirus. Ayden squatted down and secured his ankles widely splayed to the table legs and left him briefly. Quietly, Dexios tested his bonds and found them secure. He was left alone for a fair time to consider his fate. Curiosity is not becoming in a kajirus – long schooled in patience.

Ayden returned with Tullia. Dexios heard them speak but was unable to turn to see them. 

“Bite on this,” Tullia suggested, not unkindly. She held a thick leather strip against Dexios’ mouth. Dexios opened his mouth and did as she said.

Tullia nodded to Ayden. “Do him.”

Dexios felt a warm hand on his sex. He screamed into the leather when he felt the tip of Ayden’s knife.”

Sorry, boy,” Tullia whispered. “Lady Lepida demands that all her kajiri be circumcised for hygiene’s sake and then ringed."

Ayden worked quickly. Dexios screamed again and table legs groaned under the desperate strength of his brawny legs. Their fittings held. The pain finally ceased when she plunged his bleeding member into a beaker of medicated wine.

“Does the Lady want him gelded?” Ayden asked.

Dexios waited, trembling for the answer. Tullia shook her head, no, but said nothing.

Ayden rinsed the bloody foreskin in the wine, and then donned it over her finger like a ring. Incongruously, the smaller woman led the larger Dexios back to the kennel and to her chamber. Weak and in pain, he walked unsteadily. They found Philemon recovering from his surgery in another cell. They left him undisturbed.

Ayden found Achilles, Lady Lepida’s new favorite boy in her room. She chased him out. Fleeing her booted foot, the naked youth scrambled to his feet and ran. His thigh bore a slave’s mark and his sleek body had been waxed smooth of all body hair. 

Ayden poured Dexios a full cup of wine and helped him drink. She bid him lie upon a mat beside her bed then added her impromptu ring to a string a dried foreskins hanging on the wall. She left a Dexios for a time.

She returned after dark and helped Dexios to his feet and took him to the privy where he might attend to his business. Urination was painful and left Dexios shaking. She insisted that Dexios drink again and helped him back to her own chamber. 

Dexios lay down and Ayden slipped in behind him. She stretched her arms around him and pressed her naked breasts against his back. He was almost furry compared to the carefully groomed houseboys.

Dexios took comfort from her presence and somehow slept. He dreamed of Lady Lepida and his night with her under the canvas in the rain. He awoke at dawn and found himself lying on his back. Ayden lay sprawled over him, her hand resting softly on his belly. His pain had faded to a dull ache but he did not look forward to urinating again. Dexios raised his head to see his cock erect, his angry swollen glans pierced by a thick metal ring.

Ayden stirred and snorted to see with sleep bleary eyes the vigor that morning brings to young men. “You’re obviously feeling somewhat better,” she said pleasantly as her mischievous hand grasped his sex, far from his tender glans. She rose to her knees and then straddled him, sitting on his chest. She lifted her brief kilt and she wore nothing underneath. She grasped Dexios head by his ears and pulled him toward her hungry sex.

Dexios saw her thick dark bush and thrust out his tongue to split her lower lips. Gently, he explored her tender moistening flesh and heard her sigh. Her grip tightened and he closed his eyes. Dexios imagined his Lady’s golden body and the chance that he might some day serve her pleasure.


	7. The Garden

His body healed and Dexios took to his new task. Always happy to escape the close confines of the kennels, Dexios tended to his gardens with skill and enthusiasm from dawn to dark.

Lady Lepida showed him her drawings. She had vision and a real talent. Dexios had knelt beside her and studied her plans. He marveled at her clever use of written squiggles to convey meaning. He had never learned to read or write. Above her veil, her blue eyes gleamed with enthusiasm. He looked from the sketches to the grounds and back again. He studied her graceful fingers that gripped the drawings. The rich fabric of her gown rubbed against his bare skin. He inhaled her perfume. She rested her hand on his broad back and he thrilled to her touch. Slowly, a flourishing garden emerged from lifeless parchment and took life in his imagination. Making the vision real took much longer.

Itheus had taught him well. Slowly and carefully, he imposed her design on the grounds. Months and seasons passed. 

Often, Lady Lepida walked in her gardens and watched him work. Sometimes, her friend Graccha accompanied her. Lady Lepida was beautiful and loved beautiful things. She had little tolerance for ugliness. She loved flowers and marveled at Dexios’ uncanny skill at coaxing brilliant blossoms from fragile cuttings, shriveled bulbs, and lifeless seeds.

Dexios worked diligently but he was very aware when his Lady was present. He took great pride in her interest and gloried in her warm praise. No one in Cydaris had roses as beautiful as hers and no one ever would, she boasted. When he dared, he looked up from his gardening and peeked in her direction. No one could deny her breathtaking beauty. Meticulously coifed, thick blonde hair surrounded her veiled face like a golden halo. Her blue eyes made the summer sky look washed-out and pale.

Sometimes, Diomedes, her new first boy, accompanied her. His striking good looks complimented his Lady’s overwhelming loveliness. Diomedes, Achilles’ successor, was eighteen years old to her twenty-five years. His was shadow to her light. His brown eyes, black hair and dark skin contrasted with her intense blue eyes, thick blonde hair, and fair skin. Except for the hair on his head, his body had been plucked hairless.

She sat and Diomedes knelt at her feet, naked and collared. Sometime, he would take his Lady’s feet in his hands and knead the tired muscles and small bones until she sighed with pleasure. Dexios envied Diomedes’ closeness to his Lady.


	8. Helike

Time passed. Dexios’ flourishing gardens gave him peace and as much pride as a kajirus might possess. He relished the warmth of the hot sun on his always bare skin. Carefully, he matched plant to location – sun or shade and watchfully nurtured the growing plants. Hard work and the skills that Itheus had taught him brought him hard won and carefully maintained success. He kept the flower beds loose so that water might penetrate to the roots and hunted weeds relentlessly. His rose bushes were carefully tended and their magnificent flowers were the ineluctable proof his success. Castor, his new apprentice, worked diligently beside him.

He earned the privilege to bring a fresh bouquet to the house every few days. Carefully, he selected the very best blossoms, and then washed himself thoroughly before facing inspection by Cassandra and the household staff.

Helike took the flowers and led him to Lepida’s chamber. She filled a vase with water and arranged the bouquet tastefully. Next, she often guided Dexios to her chamber. 

Dexios looked up and saw Helike sitting naked astride his hips, facing his feet. Her rounded buttocks pressed against his hips. Her sex, tight and hot, sheathed his sex. She stared at the mirror on the wall and watched his thick member split her engorged lower lips. She moved against him with increasing urgency. She pressed him against her. Her breathing grew rapid and hoarse. A firm finger on the base of his cock kept him from his release. 

Helike took her pleasure fully. She toyed with his still rampant sex and took his face between her small hands and kissed him fondly on the forehead. She sprawled on top of him and sleep came quickly to her. 

Dexios remained awake and stared into the darkness. He had not found his release. Helike’s light frame was no burden. Dexios relished the warmth of her body and the press of her soft breasts against his brawny chest. Her skin was smooth against his hairy hide, except where her dense bush abraded his belly. He closed his eyes and listened to her quiet breathing. He inhaled her scent. The air was redolent with the fragrance of her lust and her Lady’s perfume. 

Dexios lay with arms at his sides. He imagined how he might feel with his Lady Lepida lying upon him, naked and sated with pleasure. He considered how he might feel to raise his arms and embrace Helike – to hold her tightly against him. He raised his work-coarsen hands to rest lightly on Helike’s rounded hips but then thought better of it. He did not dare to hold her unbidden. He lifted his head. Helike was as blonde as her mistress. Dexios kissed on the crown of her sleeping head. She did not wake.


	9. Shades of Gray

Lady Lepida loved her gardens dearly and often walked among the blossoms or sat upon a bench and watched her young daughter, Fulvia play. Sometimes, Hector, her first boy accompanied her, sometimes, Graccha, often with her young daughter, Aemilia, shared her company. Her bright blue eyes softened when she watched her daughter. Her veil concealed her smile. 

Lady Lepida and Graccha sat on a bench and watched their daughters play. A curious package lay on the bench between them.

Dexios tended to his gardening. He was well aware of her presence and took pleasure in her happiness but went about his work diligently. Young Castor, his apprentice worked beside him, quietly amused by his master’s besotted preoccupation. Dexios took quiet pride in his roses and the pleasure they gave his Lady. She never caught his quick looks or side glances or else cared little or nothing for the furtive doings of her kajirus.

Lady Lepida called Helike to take the children to another part of the grounds to play. The children ran whooping in delight and Helike plodded after them. Dexios tended to his work.

“Graccha, let’s see what wonder Lady Atia sent me?” Lady Lepida said and unwrapped the gift. She found some sort of curious contrivance with straps and buckles and a smooth ivory rod. She held it up form Graccha. “Okay, what is it?” Lepida asked in puzzled wonderment.

Graccha handled the device then scanned the grounds. “A strap-on, my Lady. Properly wielded, you may employ to take a male as a master might take his trembling kajira.”

“Looks rather complicated – and uncomfortable.”

“Some pleasure may be had in your mastery of your man, He resists then yields to your faux phallus. Touch him the the right place and you'll have him moaning and writhing on the end of your faux phallus.” Graccha saw the question in her Lady’s eyes above her veil. "Your own pleasure is more elusive - an acquired skill and does require some practice." 

“Dexios,” Lady Lepida called. Graccha turned her attention to the package and found the expected flask of oil.

Dexios heard his name and stood. Immediately, he was aware of the sheen of sticky perspiration that covered his naked body. His hands and feet were thoroughly soiled. Dirt caked thickly under his stubby worn fingernails. However, he had been summoned and he came as directed. He had eyes only for his Lady, sitting on her garden bench. To him, she was a Queen, enthroned in glory. He dropped to his knees and kissed the round beside her sandaled foot.

“Your gardens have given me much pleasure.” Lepida placed her hands on Dexios’ broad shoulders. “The roses are the envy of all.”

Dexios trembled at her touch. He lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Lepida, tired of ambitious, self-seeking sycophants, found something endearing in this untutored, tongue-tied creature. His skin was sweaty to the touch. His broad body differed from her Achilles, Diomedes, or now Aias. Coarse dark hairs curled on his brawny chest where shades of gray were now evident. They shared an impressive maleness. Aias’ sleek body had been waxed smooth and hairless. Dexois’ heavy sex arose from a thick thatch of pubic hair where shades of gray might also be seen. Lepida imagined the faux phallus thrust between Aias' muscular buttocks.

“No one in Cydaris shall ever have roses as lovely as mine.” She granted Dexios the privilege to wear a tunic and sandals.

Helike instructed him to bring a fresh bouquet of roses to Lady Lepida’s room.


	10. Lady Lepida

“Accompany me, Dexios” Ayden said. “I have need of you.” She had won her freedom and ruled the kennel in Tullia’s place.

Dexios could not imagine what task she had in mind, but a kajirus’ place was not to question a clear directive. He followed her to the gate at the rear of the estate and out into the quiet street beyond. Ayden now wore a more modest tunic in place of a kajira’s brief silks. Besides her dagger, a crop and leather covered baton hung from her belt. None of her charges would defy her knowingly, but none thought her vicious or cruel. 

“Give me you tunic and your sandals, Dexios”

In his later years, Dexios had been allowed to cover his nakedness – lest he frighten any to chance upon his ancient form unaware and allow him to spoil the garden’s beauty. His brother slaves, in the glory of their youth, teased him mercilessly. His tunic was crude and he was permitted no belt or undergarments but he prized the tunic’s warmth on cold mornings.

Overcoming stiffness and wincing from the expected bursts of arthritic pain, Dexios pulled the tunic over his head and awkwardly slipped off his simple sandals. 

Ayden ignored his discarded garments. “Kneel here,” she instructed. “Dexios,” she concluded, her voice softening.

Dexios knelt. Kneeling was becoming awkward and he was glad of Castor’s help in the garden. He studied Ayden’s unadorned leather boot and compared it with the jeweled slippers that Lady Lepida preferred. His mind always returned to the Lady Lepida. Cold winter winds might wrack his ancient bones, but in his heart eternal summer reigned and Lady Lepda ruled in beauty and desire.

Lady Lepdia loved to walk her grounds in the warm afternoons after lunch. Her passion for beauty had not faded. Lady Fulvia, her daughter, had somehow grown into a responsible young woman and shared in the management of her various enterprises. 

Americe, her chief domestic, Cassandra's successor, strolled beside her, proud of the household she managed and eager to answer any need. 

Lepida gloried in the redolent beauty of her well tended gardens. Her roses gave her endless pleasure. None in Cydaris could equal them and she would brook no rival. She came to a closed gate. “What is behind this gate?” Lady Lepida asked.

Americe looked for an answer. “Lady, do not go there, if you would spare yourself unpleasantness.”

Lepida’s blue eyes, unfaded by age, threw her a freezing stare. “Am I not mistress of this household?” She insisted, displaying sudden irritation. She shook her head at her unwanted display of pique. “Forgive me, dear Americe, my old womanly querulousness.” She reached out and pushed the gate open.

She looked about and seeing nothing, looked down and saw the figure of a slave of certain years lying naked and motionless on the paving stones. She touched him with her jeweled sandal and he did not stir. “Who is he?”

“Lady, my apologies. I had not expected you today. The knackers were to come and retrieve the carcass this morning.

“Will I recognize him?” Lady Lepida asked, now curious. Superannuated slaves, too old or sick to work, were routinely put down and their bodies sold for a few coins. Their gristly flesh fed hunting sleen and kept them eager for the chase. Their shabby skins were put to some useful purpose or other.

Helike knelt and examined the face. She looked up, “Dexios, Lady. He was Dexios your gardener.”

“Lady, his apprentice Castor is fully trained. We had no need for both of them You told me plainly that you insist none in Cydaris should match your gardens. I could not sell him.” Americe saw sadness cloud her Mistress’ eyes above her veils. “Ayden put him down neatly and without pain – a single clout. She has a strong arm and good eye.” She looked up hopeful that she remained in her Lady’s favor.

Lepida studied the male’s twisted form and recalled something from her younger days, when she and old Graccha were mere girls on her mother’s country estate. She could see traces of the youth in the broken body of the old man. “His roses have given me great happiness,” she said. “Retrieve his body and bury him in his garden. Gather a bouquet of roses for my room. I think I will retire for the afternoon. See if Graccha can come visit me.”

“Should I send a boy from the kennel?”

“No. No, thank you. And see that the roses have thorns.”


End file.
